Habibullah questions VK Singh on rape charges against army

A former IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, who was also the first Chief Information Commissioner of the country, said a productive way would have been if people like Gen Singh would have advised the government on dealing with such a situation.

National Minorities Commission Chairman Wajahahat Habibullah on Thursday criticised former army chief VK Singh for taking to streets against the gang rape of a girl here asking whether allegations of rape against personnel of the force in Jammu and Kashmir have ever been enquired into.

A former IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, who was also the first Chief Information Commissioner of the country, said a productive way would have been if people like Gen Singh would have advised the government on dealing with such a situation.

"In his (Gen Singh's) case, I am sorry to say so he was Commander-in-Chief of the army. There are, at least in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, massive allegations of rape against army. Were they ever enquired into? Was an effort made to bring justice? Here was a case of rape. Regrettable, yes. But if he wants to join in condemnation of the government against that, has he taken into account various ramifications of that," Habibullah told PTI in an interview.

He said it could be possible when Singh was the army chief he was not able to remedy the cases although he may have wanted to.

But that was even more reason to go to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and tell them how to handle it, he added.

Habibullah said that things have changed during the last two decades and army had tried to reach out to people of Jammu and Kashmir but there exists a basic mistrust.

"The basic mistrust is because general transparency and accountability is not there. If something goes wrong, if there is rape then machinery should come into automatic activation. Like they would like the Delhi Police to have done, surely the army such being a disciplined force should automatically go into action about bringing to book any person responsible for that," he said, adding if allegations are false then those facts should also be made public.